Hugh reid



cmi tant @anni @itin HUGH REID, or sr.

LOUIS, MISSOURI.

Laim raam No. 84,761, daad December 8, 186s.

The Schedule referred to in these Lettera Patent and making parl: of the same.

To all whcm itfmay concern description thereof, reference being` had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

The object of my said invention is to add to the advantages arising from the high steam-pressures in the ordinary high-pressure engine, the advantages arising from the low back-pressure of the soz-called low-pressure engine; and I achieve the said object 'byl passing the eXhaust steam of the high-pressure engine into4 any surface o rj jet-condensation vessel, excepting at short intervals immediately succedin'g the completion of each piston-stroke, at which times the exhaust-is made directly or indirectly to the air without.

And the special nature of .this invention is in certainimprovements in operating the valves for the regulation of said steam-exhaust, in which this invention differs from that secured by Letters Patent of date the 13th day of October, A. D. 1868, and numbered 83,095, and issued to me for improvement in valve-motion for steam-engines.7

Ihese improvements relate, principally, to the construction of a double piston-valve, and its operation in a valve-cylinder, avoiding the use of springs, and avoiding the necessity of a separate atmospheric valve, for regulating the exhaust of steam to the atmosphere.

To enable those skilled herein to make and use my said invention, I will now more fully describe the same, referring to the accompanying Figm'e 1, as a central sectional elevation', and to Figure-2, as a top plan.

The said drawings lshow the manner of connecting my said improvement to the ordinary form of highpressure engine in use upon the steamboats on the Mississippi and other western rivers.

A represents the exhaust-pipe, into which. the steam is discharged at the end of every stroke of the piston. lhe valves operating the exhaust of the steam from said pipe A, are operated by the'rock-shafts B, which, themselves, are usually worked by cam-rods from the driving-shaft of the engine. And similarly, as in my invention before referred to, I connect the rods for operating my exhaust-valves with vsaid rock-shafts B, or, as they are usually termed, the full-strokeY rockshafts, because these parts are closely allied to and dependent upon each other in'their'actio'n.

In order tc regulate the exhaust of steam from the pipe A, I use the valve-cylinder C, into which (near its centre) the exhaust-pipe A discharges at c. In said cylinder I arrange the rod D, having the two' pistons, D and D2, secured thereon. Said cylinder G has vthe air-exhaust E and the condenser-exhaust opening F,

leading respectively to the air and the condenser. The

said pistons D and D2 are so placed that the steam cannot exhaust at both openings, E and F, at one and .the same time, but that, one opening being closed, the

other will be open.

In order to operate the piston-valves Dl D2, Iconnect to the cross-head Z of the rod D the toggle-lever G, by the pin d. 'A similar toggle-lever, G', is pivoted on the head ofthe cylinder C at c, said lever G connecting with G by the pin g. The piu g moves in the slot h of the valve-rod H, and this operated by the crank-arm b of the rock-shaft B, above mentioned.

The rod D may be squared above the cross-head d, and be guided in a frame, I, sustained upon the cylinder C, or in any similar manner.

The operation of the parts thus described is as follows: l Y

Immediately upon the completion of the stroke of the main piston, the vacuum-opening F stands closed, and the pistonDz covers said opening, Whilst the piston D, coming above the steam-entrance @permits the discharge of steam to the air-exhaust E, which leads directly or indirectly to the air.

During this exhaust of steam the rock-shaft Bis moving the rod H forward, and thus raising the valvestem D; but, as at the time of closing the valve F, the toggles G G stand nearly verticahby the motion of the rod H they reach a vertical position, and thus, as the steam-pressures upon D and Dzbalauce each other, the weight of the valves Dl and D2, and the air-pres"- ure, aid (being opposed solely by the vacuum-pressure) to cause the toggles G G to fall, andthe pin y moves almost instantly in the sloth of the rod H, thus closing the air-exhaust E by the downward motion of the piston-rod D, and openingthe vvacuum-exhaust F,

And this exhaust to the condenser now ensues'until,

by the motion of the rock-shaft B, the, toggles GG" have approached very nearlya vertical'line, when again, for a very short interval of time, (at the end of the stroke of main piston,) the 'exhaust E is opened as aforesaid.

It is plain, therefore, that by arrangement of equalsurfaced pistons Dl and D2, and by action of the' slot h, the quick throw ofthe valve sefected, this being lan essential condition to the proper action of this invention, in accordance with the object thereof. Having thus fully described my invention, What I claim, is v 1. The arrangement of the-balanced piston-valves .Dl D, with reference tothe exhaust-cylinder C, steamport a, and exhaust-ports E and F, substantially as set forth. l

2. The arrangement of the piston-valves D"D2`with reference to the rod d, toggles G G', ping, slot-h, and.j

rod H, substantially as described.

In witness of said invention, I have hereunto set my hand, in the presence' of- HUGH REID.' Witnesses;

DAVID F. Orres,

Guo. P. -Hnn'rnnn Jr. 

